After a gap of nine months or so since my last post I have at last managed to get my techy incompetence sorted out (with the help of someone who knows what he is doing) and can now pick up the blog once more. It was very gratifying to see that in my absence people have still been reading the blog and responding to it. Thank you. Well, to get back into the account of our life here in west Wales I can report that so far we are having good summer...and of course I will talk about the weather! We had glorious weather during May and some of June which was very good for the bees and the Farmer has already taken off the first crop of honey of the year with a lot more to come. The Farmer is managing about ten hives now which with careful management should yield a good crop as the season continues. Although we now have had a lot of rain, which was very welcome, we have managed to get a lot of silage in and even made some hay for neighbours. The growing season was good and we are now reaping the benefits of it. Although we are now well into July it is cooler and we are having frequent showers yet the Farmer and the Sons are still able to carry on with silage for ourselves and neighbours. Grass and weather are the two subjects that dominate our lives so much from April through to October but they are the two things that are vital to our continueing to be able to produce milk and beef throught out the year. We had a good lambing season back in March and April. Although the Farmer is running only about 30 ewes these day he still needs to be on hand throughout the lambing period and thanks to his vigilance we had a good lambing percentage. Eldest Grandson (aged 9) is taking an interest in the sheep now which is lovely and has reared half a dozen bottle-fed lambs and is planning to enter our local agricultural show with the best one which he is starting to halter train. Our Grand-daughter (aged 12) has acquired a pair of miniature goats which are quite entertaining though I will confess to not having ever liked goats. I dread them escaping their paddock and getting into my garden as they will eat everything in the manner of goats the world over. However, these two, a mother and son (castrated, thank goodness!) known as Bessie & Norman are quite biddable and enjoy company and start bleating for attention as soon as they see anyone walking past their paddock or pen. This is the devilish Norman peering into my kitchen!

Whilst talking of new additions to the farm and family I must mention that back at the beginning of December we were presented with a beautiful new grandson, Osian Lloyd, a brother for Arthur now 2 and a half. At 8 months now Osian is delightful and provides great entertainment for his big cousins. I have been kept busy with the holiday cottage and for the first time in a number of years we have had guests from abroad, families from Australia and France who have been discovering the wonders of west Wales. As well as foreign guests we have had people from all over the UK, many of whom are coming to this area for the first time. We love encouraging them to go exploring the amazing castles and historic sites that abound here and the spectacular coastline where there is the All Wales Coastal Footpath which enables visitors to walk long or short distances right on the sea edge and experience the beautiful Welsh coast.